Family
by Wilhelmina Vandom
Summary: When Piper is mugged just outside P3 she learns the reason behind why thier mother abandoned them for a year before being killed and finds out that the mugger is a lot closer to the sisters than they could have ever imagined.
1. Chapter 1

Family

By Demoness Paige

Everyone is their normal age and this is set after Prue was supposed to die but Leo had managed to save all of them. Paige has just turned 17 though and before anyone askes why they don't know they had a sister because of their age differences when Patty found out she was pregnant with Piper she was scared and left the girls with Penny and ran with Sam until Paige was born then they gave her up to the church and was killed shortly after.

She wasn't sure when it had become normal for her to stay up all night and try to find someplace to crash during the day but in the time Paige ran away from her latest and probably worst foster family she had been forced to make so many changes in her life. She only turned seventeen a few weeks earlier and though she should be in attending the last few months of her school year before her last she couldn't risk it. It was kind of ironic in a way seeing how there was once a time when she would have given almost anything to get out of a majority of her classes she was now missing those classes as she struggled just to survive on the harsh streets of San Francisco.

She had slept longer than she meant to tonight though as it was well past sunset and the last two dumpsters she hit had held nothing, well nothing edible anyways. Her stomach was growling rather loudly as she turned down an alley between a Bar and Grill and a place called P3. She briefly wondered just what a P3 was but shook the thoughts from her head as she focused on her current goal of finding something to eat.

Walking quietly up to the dumpster she climbed up onto it and took a deep breath before starting to sift through it. A part of her hated doing this but no matter how much she hated it there was no way that it was worse than her situation back at her supposed foster home. She briefly thought of the only family who showed her love when she was younger. She stayed with the Matthews for two years and even changed her name to match theirs as it looked like they were going to formally adopt her. It all fell through though when they lost their business and with the lack of financial support the state took her away from then and started putting her into one hell after another.

Sniffing a little as she continued digging through the bags finding only beer cans and liquor bottles she sighed. Another dumpster and another failure at finding anything to eat. Turning around she gasped when an older woman with brunette hair was standing there looking at Paige wide eyed. Her eyes were drawn to the purse that the woman was holding. She had never robbed someone before but it was like the purse was calling to her.

"Who are you?" The woman asked, her eyes seemed to be looking straight into Paige's soul. Taking a deep breath Paige jumped forward and grabbed the purse while at the same time shoving the woman and took off running at full speed down the alley not looking back.

OoOoO

Piper finished locking the doors to P3 after finishing cleaning it up and setting it up for the reopening the next night. She was forced to close it down for repairs when a demon attacked it and wrecked it for the third time. It was getting harder and harder explaining everything to her insurance company.

Turning around she spotted a young girl sifting through the trash in the dumpster. She had red hair and from what Piper could see she was very pale. She was very dirty though, her hair matted and her clothes dirty and worn. She was worried though, it could still be a demon or something just setting a trap. She noticed the girl gasp as she turned around and came face to face with her. She looked somewhat familiar as she stared intently at the girl asking, "Who are you?"

Piper cursed herself as she let her guard down leaving a huge opening that the girl took. Instead of attacking her though the girl grabbed Piper's purse while shoving her out of the way and ran down the alley. Piper was shocked at the unexpected maneuver but recovered just in time to throw her hands out to freeze the girl.

"What the hell!" Piper growled as she noticed everything except the girl freeze as the girl ran out of the alley. Cursing herself she hurried past the flies frozen in midair and hurried after the girl but when she made it to the end of the alley she had already lost the girl.

oOoOo

Paige sighed as she sat out back of McDonald's glad that it was open twenty four hours as she had bought the first real meal she had in such a long time. She had just thrown away the empty bag and trash and was just relaxing a little as she sipped on her Cherry Coke. Looking at the purse she was surprised at just how much money was in it. There were a bunch of credit cards and a driver's license as well which made Paige feel a little guilty. Sure she had stolen food a few times but never money, much less mug someone which was what she had done.

What if this Piper, or at least that's what everything in the purse indicated her name was, had this money to pay for rent? If Piper couldn't get anymore money and was thrown out because of what Paige did, it was something Paige didn't think she could live with herself over.

There was a dark part of herself that said screw the woman and everyone else, all they ever did was hurt Paige. But that was the thing, she didn't know this Piper woman despite a slight familiar feeling with her. The woman hadn't done anything to Paige and didn't deserve to be forced out on the street also.

"Damn…I'm such an idiot…" Paige whispered to herself pulling out the license again and looking at the address. It was on the other side of town but Paige had made her mind up, she was going to return it and apologize for what she did. She wasn't going to hurt someone just because of her bad fortune.

OoOoO

"I'm telling you she has to be a witch or something, she didn't freeze." Piper said as she served her sisters and husband breakfast. "What I don't understand is why another witch would go around mugging people."

"There has to be a reason honey." Leo said shaking his head in confusion. As Piper was sitting her plate down on the table the doorbell rang causing Piper to sigh torn between answering it and ignoring it for breakfast with her family.

"I'll get it." Phoebe said starting to get up.

"Sit and eat, I'll get it." Piper sighed walking to the door and pulling it open to find the topic of their very discussion clutching the purse to her chest and looking down sniffing a little.

"I…I'm sorry for what I did." The girl said, "Everything is here except for about ten dollars which I bought some food with. I'll pay it back, please…"

"It's okay." Piper said in confusion stepping back to give the girl enough room to get past, "Please come in, I want to know why you decided to steal my purse."

Piper watched as the girl flinched before tensing up and nervously following Piper's orders and stepping into the manor.


	2. Chapter 2

Family

By Demoness Paige

Thank you everyone for your wonderful reviews and if anyone asks any questions I'll do my best to answer. For everyone who reviews saying great chapter, please accept my most gracious thank you, thank you, thank you. And everyone else, please leave a review to help feed my muses as they are really greedy when it comes to reviews. Ciao.

"Please, I was just so hungry." Paige said avoiding looking at Piper, "I…I never did anything like this before."

"What's your name?" Piper asked Paige while looking through her newly returned purse to find that the girl was telling the truth, only a few dollars was missing. She was worried about the girl being something besides a girl but the familiarity that the girl caused Piper to feel made her heart go out.

"P-Paige…Please don't hurt me." Paige whimpered shaking a little looking towards the door while tensing as if she was going to bolt.

"I'm not going to hurt you but you owe me, right?" Piper asked forming a bit of a plan in her head. Obviously this girl was a minor and someone had hurt her very badly and something in the pit of her stomach was telling Piper it was Paige's family that was the cause of it. There was no way Piper was going to let the girl just leave until she found out for sure. The look on Paige's face worried Piper though, first shock then a cross between disgust and fear.

"I-I'll get you the money…Please don't make me do THAT!" Paige begged tears forming in the girls eyes.

"Paige, honey, all I want is for you to stay here and maybe help around the house a little." Piper said carefully while studying the girl's face as a glimmer of hope flickered across it, "What did you think I wanted?"

"To…To sleep with you or…Or make me sleep with people for money…" Paige said softly.

"Wh-What?" Piper asked, doing an impression of a fish for several moments. "Honey, has anyone ever made you before?"

Piper wanted to cry as the girl watched her a little fearfully while nodding yes very slightly. Piper immediately grabbed Paige in a fierce protective hug, "I won't ever let anyone hurt you like that ever again."

"Piper, breakfast is getting cold." Prue said as she came into the room. "Hey, who is the squirt?"

"This is Paige, Prue." Piper said, "She'll be staying with us for awhile."

"Piper, we need to talk about something like this first." Prue started softly.

"She's staying Prue, there won't be any talking about it." Piper said as Paige pulled away and she noticed her sister's eyes going wide in shock when taking in the condition of the girl. "Come on, let's go eat."

"Really?" Paige asked hopefully.

"Yeah sweetie, then you are getting a bath." Piper said, "Prue, will you call P3 and let them know I won't be in today?"

"S-Sure Piper." Prue said while watching the girl.

OoOoO

Paige kept berating herself mentally for putting herself in such a stupid and dangerous position. She knew from experience never to trust anyone, especially strangers and the way Piper was acting was scaring her. It reminded her a little of the Matthews but that was wishful thinking.

She let out a heavy breath though as she let the hot water flow over her body reveling in the sensations it caused. It had been so long since she had a good bath or shower and it felt so good to finally be clean again but she still had the problem of what to do about Piper. What had possessed her to bring back the purse of a stranger who she robbed to begin with, it was stupid. It was like a voice kept whispering for her to but who could she really blame but herself.

Even if Piper was legitimate though and was really nice there was no way she would stay that way when she learned how worthless Paige was. Then there was her other secret, the secret that had caused her so many problems in the past. She was a freak and it was impossible to hide that fact forever but there was something making her stay, making her feel the same way she had when she decided to return the purse. She knew she should just sneak out and run without looking back.

"Paige, I'm putting some clean clothes out here on the sink for you." Piper said from the other side of the shower door, "When you get done come back down to the living room so we can talk some more. Everyone else is gone so it'll just be me and you."

"O-Okay." Paige squeaked nervously. On one hand she was glad about that as the others' looks through breakfast frightened her a little and made her extremely nervous. Thinking about being alone with Piper in the house frightened her as well but it also calmed her a little bit.

Getting out of the shower she grabbed the towel and dried off and used the hair dryer to dry her hair though she usually preferred letting it air dry. Next she pulled on the clothes left and was surprised when they fit pretty well, even the bra and panties. The top was a dark blue blouse and the skirt was a black that fell just past her knees. Sighing she slowly made her way out of the bathroom and walked slowly down the stairs finding Piper sitting on the couch in the family room with the television on a news station.

"Reports say that the victims Rebecca Cunningham and Carlos Cunningham died instantly when the large semi slammed into their car. The driver of the truck is being held for vehicular homicide and driving under the influence." The reporter said causing Paige to let out a loud sob as she hugged herself tightly and sunk to her knees. She felt a pair of arms encircle her and pull her into a comforting embrace. All she knew though was that she was now free from all the pain they caused her. Even when children services found her she was hoping that they wouldn't force her into another abusive foster home since she was seventeen.

"Paige, sweetie, what's wrong?" Piper asked gently rubbing her back.

"I-I'm free." Paige whispered, crying into Piper's arms.


	3. Chapter 3

Family

By Demoness Paige

Thanks everyone for your great reviews, glad you like my story. Please keep up the reviews and anyone who hasn't reviewed please do so as they help keep my spirits up and shows me that you really like this story. I'm also open to any ideas so please let me know.

Piper sighed as she finished putting away the dishes, worried about the girl who was asleep upstairs in the guest room. After calming the girl down after her break down Paige admitted to being exhausted though she refused to talk about anything else. She was underage though and while Piper wanted to call the police, maybe Andy, something was stopping her. Something bad must have happened to Paige and until Piper was sure what it was she was reluctant to send her back to a potentially harmful environment.

There was the problem with the constant demon and warlock attacks as Prue so delicately put it but what could they do? Surely Paige could keep a secret if they protected and helped her couldn't she? Then there was the fact that there was just something about the girl that seemed familiar and made Piper's heart go out to the poor girl.

"Piper, where are you?" Prue's voice called from the door.

"In here Prue, please keep it down though." Piper called waiting for Prue to get into the kitchen. "Paige is upstairs sleeping."

"Piper, we have a problem about the girl." Prue said with a worried expression.

"What's wrong?" Piper asked fear gripping her heart at the serious expression on her sister's face. What was wrong with Paige? Hopefully nothing really bad.

"It's not exactly anything that she did but I talked to Andy…Piper, Paige is wanted for questioning about some serious case in LA." Prue said handing Piper a folder from her bag. "Apparently Paige is one of several girls who reported to the school counselor about being abused. The woman didn't report it to anyone but kept in her files."

"Then how did anyone find out about it?" Piper asked in shock, she had a bad feeling that Paige was running from something horrible but Piper kept a prayer in her heart that she was wrong. No one should have to go through this.

"A girl was almost beat to death by her father and when the police investigated it they found several entries in her diary about reporting it to the counselor. When they checked her files out they found multiple cases of the counselor hiding this and protecting these monsters." Prue explained while rubbing her eyes.

"What kind of monster would do this?" Piper asked opening the folder and seeing pics of the condition that the girl Prue was talking about. It looked like she was still in a coma and the charges on the counselor alone took up about five pages for just the most serious charges while there was at least twice as many for the less serious ones. Then she noticed the names listed as Paige's adopted parents, Rebecca and Carlos Cunningham, the couple who died in that car crash that was on the news. That most have been what set Paige off and explained what she meant by being free.

"They are worse than any demon's I've even seen before Piper, I mean they are supposed to be protecting these kids, not hurting them like this." Prue said shaking her head.

"Prue, we can't send her back to foster care, what happens if she gets put in another bad home?" Piper asked shakily, her breath a little heavy as she fought off crying or blowing something up, preferably the people responsible for this.

"Piper, we can't exactly keep her around, what if something attacks us?" Prue sighed heavily, "Believe me, after seeing this I want to protect her to but…We can't Piper, I'm sure that she would get a good home if we send her back."

"Send who back?" Paige yawned walking into the kitchen, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"DIE WITCH!" A voice snarled surprising the three. Piper didn't have a chance to react before the demon threw a lightning bolt toward Paige. Piper tried to scream out a warning as she flicked her hands out to freeze the room. Piper watched in astonishment as Paige disappeared in blue and white orbs and reappeared on the other side of the room while the demon froze.

"What the hell?" Prue gasped in shock as Piper turned to the demon flicking her hands again blowing it up.

"You did that?" Paige asked in shock staring at Piper.

"There's a good explanation." Piper said hoping Prue would say something.

"Y-You're a freak!" Paige said.

"Hey, Piper is not a freak!" Prue growled.

"Oh my god, I thought I was the only one!" Paige sobbed throwing herself in Piper's arms. "I thought I was the only f-freak!"

"Sweetie, you aren't a freak." Piper whispered in Paige's hair, her heart tearing at the pain in Paige's voice. "Neither of us are, we're special."

"I guess there isn't a problem with her staying for now." Prue said a little stunned, "Paige, honey, do you know what a white lighter is?"

"N-No." Paige said pulling away from Piper and looking up at Prue tearfully.

"A white lighter is like an angel honey." Prue said stroking Paige's hair, caressing her cheek, "They can do what you just did, orb."

"Orb?" Paige asked in confusion.

"Yeah, turn into lights and move somewhere else." Prue explained.

"That's what it is?" Paige asked nervously, "Does that mean…Does that mean I'm an angel?"

"You don't know, do you?" Piper asked, putting her hand on Paige's shoulder and squeezing softly in reassurance.

"N-No, is it why I'm a freak?" Paige asked.

"Honey, you aren't a freak." Piper said, kissing the top of Paige's head.

"Then what am I?" Paige asked, looking up nervously into Piper's eyes. "Everyone…Everyone of them told me I was before…Before…"

"You aren't a freak honey and no one here is going to hurt you." Piper said pulling the girl into her arms again as Paige's tears started anew.

"Promise?" Paige asked quietly though the pleading and pain could clearly be heard in that quiet voice.

"I promise." Piper whispered in the most sincerest and comforting voice she could muster, "I'll protect you, I'll adopt you and make sure nothing else will ever hurt you again."


End file.
